This Cyclist Smashed a World Record with 108-Day Ride Around the Globe

Lael Wilcox has done it again.

At 6:14 p.m. CST on Wednesday, September 11, Wilcox pedaled up to the Buckingham Fountain in downtown Chicago and unclipped from her bicycle. An ear-to-ear grin broke out across her face. The 37-year-old had just set a new record: the women’s Guinness World Record for the fastest circumnavigation of the globe by bicycle.

Wilcox, a decorated ultra-cyclist and bikepacking racer, completed her monumental ride in 108 days, 12 hours, and 12 minutes, smashing the previous record of 124 days and 11 hours, held since 2018 by Scottish cyclist Jenny Graham.

When Wilcox left Chicago at 7 a.m. on May 26, she hoped to return to the windy city 110 days later. Arriving a bit early is on brand for the Alaskan, who has set numerous other long-distance cycling records, including winning the TransAm in 2018 and setting and FKT on the Tour Divide route in 2015.

For her around-the-globe ride, Wilcox covered an average of 175 miles per day. Her longest stint on the bike was day 98, when she rode 271 miles in one stretch to escape a horrible heatwave outside of Needles, California.

Here’s the bike Wilcox rode around the world.

The sheer scale of Wilcox’s effort was impressive. She covered 18,125 miles — 125 more than the required 18,000 miles (28,970 kilometers) needed for the record. Her ride followed Guinness’s strict criteria: traveling in one direction only (west to east), veering no more than five degrees off course (about 300 miles), and passing through at least two antipodal points (Madrid, Spain, and Wellington, New Zealand).

Wilcox’s wife, photojournalist Rugile Kaladyte, meticulously logged each day’s distance and elevation gain, as Wilcox’s ride was divided into five segments punctuated by overseas flights. Aside from travel days, Wilcox’s daily mission remained the same: get on the bike and keep moving.

“Every day is like a marathon,” she said.

While many of Wilcox’s toughest rides — like the Arizona Trail in 2022 — have involved levels of sleep deprivation and caloric intake unhealthy for most humans, in some ways Wilcox’s around-the-world adventure was much saner. She averaged a solid seven hours of sleep each night, but her waking hours were laser-focused: riding, eating, recovering — and recording a 15-minute daily podcast.

Additionally, this Guinness World Record attempt came with different rules from those she’s used to — namely, there is no distinction between a supported and self-supported ride. While Wilcox treated much of the journey as unsupported, Kaladyte, who is a photojournalist and filmmaker, traveled with her, documenting the entire ride for a documentary that will be released at the end of the year.

Wilcox also invited fans and riders  to join her on the road at key points. This ended up being a highlight of the journey.

“Sometimes I forget that I’m riding around the world — it just feels like the most fun pop-up group ride I’ve ever been on,” Wilcox said in California last month.

She estimated that over the course of the journey, over 3,000 people came out to ride with her. The biggest turnout was in San Francisco, where somewhere between 100 and 200 people turned up.

Now, with her world circumnavigation complete and another record set, Wilcox can finally put her legs up and let the effort sink in. Knowing her, she won’t rest for too long. As she always says, records are meant to be broken.

Lael Wilcox’s Around-the-World Stats